GEOFF SCHUMACHER'S LAS VEGAS

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Schumacher Literary Hall of Fame

Here is a list of fiction writers who are among my personal favorites (with a representative book listed alongside). These are not the usual suspects, but some of the lesser-known writers I like. Richard Yates, "Revolutionary Road"; John Fante, "Ask the Dust"; Nelson Algren, "The Man with the Golden Arm"; Frederick Exley, "A Fan's Notes"; Charles Portis, "The Dog of the South"; John Williams, "Stoner"; Patrick Hamilton, "Hangover Square"; Richard Russo, "Empire Falls"; Richard Ford, "The Sportswriter"; Don DeLillo, "White Noise"; Jim Harrison, "True North"; Raymond Carver, "Will You Please Be Quiet, Please?"; Willy Vlautin, "The Motel Life"; Michael Chabon, "The Wonder Boys"; Ian McEwan, "Atonement"; Colson Whitehead, "John Henry Days"; Orhan Pamuk, "Snow"; Junot Diaz, "The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao"; Avram Davidson, "Vergil in Averno"

Recent reading: recommended fiction

The Secret of Lost Things (2006), Sheridan Hay; Absurdistan (2006), Gary Shteyngart; Five Skies (2007), Ron Carlson; Citizen Vince (2005), Jess Walter; On Chesil Beach (2007), Ian McEwan; We're in Trouble (2005), Christopher Coake; Returning to Earth (2007), Jim Harrison; The Lay of the Land (2006), Richard Ford

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Geoff Schumacher

What's a dogsbody?

It's British slang for "a worker who has to do all the unpleasant or boring jobs that no one else wants to do."

May 2006



Back from Hawaii

Sun, 05/28/06 9:45 A GMT-08
Great time on the Big Island of Hawaii. Stayed in the wonderful Sheraton Hotel on the beach in Kona. Ocean view from our room. Traveled completely around the island, stopping in Hilo and Volcano National Park. Ate heartily. Saw sea turtles up close o

Hawaii bound

Sun, 05/21/06 6:56 P GMT-08
Work is sending me to the Big Island. We leave tomorrow. My wife is coming along (and not the kids), so it will be a work-vacation combo. We will stay in Kona, but we also will travel all over the island, including to Hilo and to the volcanoes. We ex
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Neil Young's new anti-war album

Tue, 05/16/06 9:12 P GMT-08
I recently finished a long biography of Neil Young, "Shakey," and it was good. Long. But good. Jimmy McDonough did an amazing reporting job and very effectively captured Neil Young's personality, which, generally speaking, is all over the map. and no
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Virginia's nice

Wed, 05/10/06 1:19 P GMT-08
I have been in Virginia all week. It was sprinkling when I landed at Dulles on Sunday, but ever since then the weather has been great. I'm in Reston, the Edge City outside D.C., attending an American Press Institute seminar on growing youth readershi

Summing up the publishing problem

Tue, 05/02/06 7:20 A GMT-08
Tim Rutten of the Los Angeles Times: Publishing (he's referring to both books and newspapers here) has passed "from the hands of people who have found a way to make a living doing something they love and into the hands of folks who only love making a